Harriers only halfway to heaven
May 14 2007 By Colin Stoner, Birmingham Post
FA Trophy Final:
Kidderminster Harriers 2 Stevenage Borough 3 (at Wembley)
When Graham Allner, Kidderminster Harriers' former FA Trophy-winning manager, suggested history could repeat itself, he certainly didn't have this in mind.
It might have 20 years ago to the day - May 12 1987 - since Harriers lifted the Trophy in a replay at The Hawthorns, but it was the memories of the final of 1995 which came flooding back after a tidal wave of emotions.
Twelve years ago, it had been a goal two minutes into injury time in extra time which destroyed Harriers' hopes against Woking.
This time, an 88th-minute goal denied them the silverware but the pain was even more unbearable after Mark Yates' side had reached the half-time interval with a two-goal lead.
James Constable's two goals inside a five-minute spell - the first, a predatory finish and the second, a perfectly dispatched 20-yarder -had left an out-fought, out-played and out-thought Stevenage side a distinct second-best in the first period.
But two halves make a whole and Harriers, looking increasingly nervous and weary after the break, faltered to allow Mitchell Cole and Craig Dobson to level before Steve Morison snatched the winner.
Harriers still might have provided another twist in the tale in injury-time, only for substitute Andy White to somehow steer a right-footed shot from Gavin Hurren's cross inches wide. But Kidderminster are still waiting to win at Wembley.
Manager Mark Yates said: "I'm gutted for the players, gutted for the supporters and gutted for my staff who are all really down.
"My players deserve a lot of credit for the way they performed and handled the occasion. I asked them to put in a performance they would be proud of. It ended badly but nobody let themselves, the supporters or the club down.
"We'll analyse the mistakes we have made another time. I was never going to go into the dressing room and berate the boys - nobody deserved that. It was a fantastic game of football played by two excellent teams."
The last final at Wembley had been the instantly-forgettable 2000 FA Cup final between Chelsea and Aston Villa but nobody could complain that the return of non-League's showpiece was anything but eventful.
More unpredictable than a whodunnit, more intriguing than the machinations of Downing Street and more passionate than a night with a long-lost love, it was a contest which stirred every emotion.
In front of a record Trophy final crowd, Harriers dominated the first period and could, should have, had the FA officials already tying red ribbons to the prized cup by the time Chris Foy's whistle halted first-half proceedings.
Yates' side looked unstoppable in the early going, hurrying Stevenage into mistakes, shutting out the threat of the highly-rated Morison and conjuring a series of chances with purposeful passing.
"We were the best team by an absolute mile in the first half," said skipper Stuart Whitehead. "We were winning every header, every tackle, every challenge. They couldn't live with us. It could have been three or four at half-time."
Russell Penn fired wide, Iyseden Christie was crowded out after creating an opening and Constable's header flew over but Stevenage could only survive for so long and the 32nd minute signalled the breakthrough.
Christie controlled Jeff Kenna's free-kick from the right to drill a low shot towards the goal and though Barry Fuller hooked the ball off the line, Constable was able to ram in the rebound for his 14th goal of the season.
Five minutes later, the Harriers hordes were cheering again. Had the Wembley roof been on, the roar would surely have sent it soaring into the grey-tinged London sky.
The subtlest of lay-offs from the wily Christie just inside the Stevenage half sliced open the defence and Constable advanced 30 yards showing ice-cool composure and drilled a precise 20-yarder beyond the outstretched right arm of goalkeeper Alan Julian.
Yates' message was simply "same again" but opposite number Mark Stimson always knew his team could do better. The next goal was going to be crucial and when Cole's angled finish from Morison's nod-down nestled in the bottom corner of the net on 51 minutes, it gave Stevenage the push they needed.
But it was the arrival of electric-heeled Dobson as a 64th-minute substitute that turned that impetus into a full-blown comeback.
His pace and trickery unsettled the Harriers defence and it was the right winger, named the man of the match, who poked home the equaliser after escaping Michael Blackwood to race onto John Nutter's 40-yard through-ball.
With two minutes left, Morison - who had scored in every round of the Trophy - finally made his mark. Having found a yard of space at the far post, he met Fuller's right-wing cross with a point-blank volley and though Scott Bevan managed to parry the ball, it fell back to the Boro top scorer to scoop into the net. It doesn't get much more numbing.
Scorers: Constable 31 (1-0), Constable 37 (2-0) 37, Cole 51 (2-1), Dobson 74 (2-2), Morison 88 (2-3).
KIDDERMINSTER HARRIERS (4-4-2): Bevan; Kenna, Creighton, Whitehead, Blackwood; Russell, Penn, Hurren, Smikle (Reynolds, 90); Christie (White, 76), Constable. Subs: Taylor (gk), Sedgemore, McGrath.
STEVENAGE BOROUGH: (4-4-2): Julian; Fuller, Henry, Gaia, Nutter; Cole, Beard, Miller, Guppy (Dobson, 64); Oliver, Morison. Subs: Potter (gk), Slabber, Nurse, McMahon.
Referee: Chris Foy (Merseyside).
Bookings: Kidderminster - Penn, Hurren; Stevenage - Oliver, Fuller.
Attendance: 53,262.
- For Stuart Whitehead, it could only be described as a Bullseye moment, writes Colin Stoner.
When the Kidderminster Harriers captain walked up the 107 steps to Wembley's Royal Box and had to trudge past the FA Trophy rather than proudly lifting it aloft, all he needed was Jim Bowen, host of the 1980s TV favourite, uttering the famous lines "... and here's what you would have won."
Whitehead said: "Walking past the trophy at the end when I knew we were so close left a big lump in my throat. Then watching their captain [Ronnie Henry] lift it. He didn't think they had a chance at half-time. I spoke to him afterwards and he said they couldn't live with us in the first half. They thought it was all over. It could have been me lifting the Trophy ."
Despite the result, Whitehead insisted Harriers should be proud of their efforts. Not that any plaudits will lessen the feelings of anguish. Regardless of the fact that he is about to become a father, there will be restless nights before the baby is born.
"It's going to take a while to sink in," said the centre-back. "There will be a few sleepless nights, thinking what could have been and how close we were.
"When people come and say 'well done, you were unlucky' it does make you feel a little bit emotional. The lads have got to get back to their families and have a hug from everyone and they will need that support."
Whitehead and Mark Creighton had extinguished any spark from Stevenage in the opening period, but the captain felt all three goals after the break were poor ones to concede. "I'm not apportioning blame because we are all in it together," said Whitehead. "I think they were all preventable. It's switching off at the wrong time. They were not clear-cut mistakes but more a case of people ball-watching.
"You can't come down hard on the lads because they have been fantastic all season. I have to commend them for their effort they put in out there. It's just so disappointing how it's worked out.
"We put on a performance and I don't think anyone had let themselves down. It was a thriller. For the first final at Wembley, in front of the Sky cameras, if nothing else it was entertaining. We will learn from it. In the face of disappointment you end up coming out stronger. There's not going to be a tougher lesson than experiencing a defeat like this."
Playing in one of the great Trophy finals was scant consolation to goalkeeper Scott Bevan. A record 53,000 crowd shared a white-knuckle ride in the first final hosted by the new £767 million Wembley and Bevan saluted their input into a game that will be long remembered.
"I thought the game was a credit to non-League," said Bevan. "To play in front of 53,000 was a great honour and I think both teams came out with a lot of credit.
"Coming out at the start of the game, the crowd created a fantastic buzz. We took that into our first-half performance. Then to see the crowd doing the Mexican wave sent shivers down my spine. Even in the second half, when we were up against it, the crowd were spurring us on. Unfortunately it wasn't to be."
"We could have done with playing the full 90 minutes without a break. Looking at their body language after 40 minutes, I thought they had gone but credit to them, they come out in the second half and gave it a go."
It was a cruel finale when Bevan managed to block Steve Morison's 88th-minute strike but the ball fell straight to the striker to scoop the rebound into the roof of the net.
"Maybe I could've done better but it was a reaction save, a split-second decision," said the former Tamworth, Milton Keynes Dons and Southampton keeper. "I was happy to get something on it but it landed at their lad's feet.
"It was a sickener to see it go in but I think we've shown enough in the first half to prove that next season we will be a force to be reckoned with."
